The Marketing Brilliance of Inside Out 2: Lessons for Brands
What is part cat, part elephant, part dolphin? If you instantly guessed that it’s Bing Bong, well, you’re smitten by the Inside Out world! Can you believe that it’s nearly a decade since the first movie came? And now Inside Out 2 is making waves.
It’s hardly been four weeks since the release yet the movie is estimated to have made a collection of $1.217billion at the global box office as of the first week of July. This makes it the 5th biggest animated movie release of all time globally and the biggest opening of 2024.
Pixar’s success with this film is indicative of their understanding of their audience and their brilliance in marketing. In this blog, we’ll explore the marketing side of the Inside Out 2 movie and take away some lessons from their success.
- Marketing Tips to Take Away From the Success of the Inside Out 2 Movie
- 1. Optimizing your content
- 2. The power of a teaser
- 3. Create fan magnets
- 4. Throw the spotlight on the people behind your brand
- 5. Take your audience behind the scenes to keep them in the loop
- 6. Leverage social proof
- 7. Use interactive posts
- 8. Do not underestimate the power of old-school marketing strategies
- 9. Tap into user-generated content
- 10. Campaigns with a cause
- 11. Seasonal campaigns
- 12. Make the most of emotions in marketing
- 13. Targeting niche audiences
- The Many Joyful Brand Partnerships For Inside Out 2 & Lessons From Them
- Execute Your Inside Out 2 Inspired Campaign Designs With KIMP
Marketing Tips to Take Away From the Success of the Inside Out 2 Movie
1. Optimizing your content
The first and foremost strategy to note is that Pixar has optimized the content, the themes of the Inside Out movies to keep up with the times.
Evaluating and understanding the industry
One of the main reasons why about 15 of the 50 highest-grossing animation films are from Pixar is because of Pixar’s understanding of the target market.
Inside Out 2 comes at a time when there are not many family-friendly movies. Pixar is a pro when it comes to filling such voids in the entertainment segment. Naturally, this understanding of the market and gaps in it has paid off!
About 19% of the audience for the Inside Out 2 movie were in the age group 25-34 and about 23% were teens. This diverse audience shows that Pixar has done a good job of evaluating the market and creating content that appeals to the masses.
Evolving their narrative
When the first Inside Out movie was released, it explored some basic emotions and their impact on a young girl’s life. The theme resonated particularly with children and parents of young children.
Considering the fact that some of these young children who witnessed the first movie are now teens the Inside Out 2 movie delves into more complex emotions like “anxiety” and “ennui”. The theme here feels more relevant to both teens and young adults sailing through difficult emotions.
In summary, the audience for the Inside Out movie franchise has expanded and evolved. To keep up with this, Pixar has also evolved their marketing approach and their content. They have achieved this by retaining the original emotions (characters) featured in the first movie to evoke nostalgia in the existing audience and also by adding some new ones to cater to a wider age group.
2. The power of a teaser
Teaser advertising is an underrated goldmine in the marketing realm. Some production houses including Pixar know how to make the most of it. This applies to their approach for the Inside Out 2 movie’s marketing as well.
The first teaser for the movie was released in November 2023. Without giving away too many details, the teaser made it evident that big changes were coming to the movie along with new characters (emotions).
The teaser soon grew to become the “most-watched animated trailer of all-time” garnering 157 million views within a short time.
Taking cues from this strategy, create teasers that prioritize emotions rather than exposition to build anticipation for your product launches and big company updates.
3. Create fan magnets
Soon after the launch of the teaser, Pixar also released a set of Inside Out 2 posters. Some of these Inside Out 2 posters create an air of mystery around what was coming and the others introduced the new emotions that were coming to Riley’s life. These are the types of content that excites fans because through them they get to encounter a slice of the movie even before its release.
In the world of movie marketing, collectibles like these Inside Out 2 posters are great fan magnets. Identify such options relevant to your industry. These could be informative guides, detailed blog posts, and other content that educates and engages your audience creating value for them.
4. Throw the spotlight on the people behind your brand
Have you ever watched an animated movie and wanted to know about the actor who gave voice to your favorite character? Pixar knows that there are a lot of people who have these questions. Therefore, with the Inside Out 2 marketing, they shared a lot of videos putting the movie’s voice actors in the spotlight.
Featuring your team, and showing the faces behind your brand can be a great way to humanize it.
5. Take your audience behind the scenes to keep them in the loop
The technical aspects of movies, especially animated movies are always a subject of great wonder for movie fanatics. Fans love digging for information about the progress and timelines in the production of their favorite movies. With this in mind, Pixar shared updates on details like the launch of the next trailer, release dates, date of ticket availability, and glimpses of the team working in the background. Like their update here about the completion of sound work for the movie.
May the 4th be with us!
— Pixar (@Pixar) May 4, 2024
Wrapping up final sound touches on Inside Out 2 at @SkywalkerSound today. #MayThe4th pic.twitter.com/XQ78yjLmrU
In addition to the people who make your products and services happen, the process involved can also intrigue your audience. It helps establish your dedication and enhances your brand’s authenticity. Finally, it also helps them stay in the loop.
KIMP Tip: Short videos often make behind-the-scenes content more engaging. These do not have to be staged professional videos. Raw footage with subtle tweaks shared on your Reels occasionally and on your Story posts can get the job done.
Need help editing your behind-the-scenes videos? Get a KIMP Video subscription.
6. Leverage social proof
One of the best ways to evoke FOMO and attract more customers is to show them what they are missing. Accordingly, Pixar has been sharing regular updates on fan comments, critic reviews and audience views about the Inside Out 2 movie. This has helped maintain the momentum and further expand the reach and performance of the movie.
For instance, their post here gives a gist of some of the user comments about the movie. Posts like this one have the potential to show people what they are missing out on.
KIMP Tip: In the above post, while the reviews themselves are stationary, the characters from the movie occasionally popping up on the screen keeps the post engaging. Similarly use subtle animations in the form of GIF posts or even cinemagraphs to boost engagement on your social media pages.
7. Use interactive posts
One way to evoke excitement before the actual movie is to create interactive posts that keep the viewers coming back for more. Pixar adopted this approach even with their Inside Out 2 marketing.
Firstly, they consistently incorporated memes built around visuals from the movie. These memes were made relatable and their themes and core messages were share-worthy. Like this animated meme here that resonated with movie-goers.
There were also other interactive carousels and interesting themes created to keep the conversations around the movie alive. Without a doubt, consistently posting interactive content is important, particularly since they had to maintain interest in the movie among the audience for over 8 months since the launch of the first teaser. For example, the idea in the below carousel is pretty simple but it’s fun and engaging.
8. Do not underestimate the power of old-school marketing strategies
People dressed up as mascots cheering people at stores and welcoming customers on store-opening day sounds old school, doesn’t it? However, this strategy is still relevant in humanizing your brand and boosting engagement. Learn it from Pixar’s adoption of this strategy to promote the Inside Out 2 movie.
Mascots wearing costumes of popular Inside Out 2 characters surprised fans at various movie theaters. The sheer enthusiasm with which fans snapped photos with their favorite characters shows the excitement built around the movie.
Similarly, focus on offline events and traditional ways of engaging with your audience including the use of mascots.
9. Tap into user-generated content
User-generated content helps amplify a brand’s authenticity. Pixar tapped into this idea by sharing fan art and giving a shout-out to creators who created them.
Fan participation in all formats can help boost the effectiveness of a campaign. In this case, by sharing the work of various artists Pixar encouraged more user-generated content. Evidently, measures like these help strengthen your social media presence. Moreover, the buzz they create helps increase social media mentions for your brand. Hence invest in strategies that encourage user-generated content.
10. Campaigns with a cause
CSR (corporate social responsibility) measures are no longer a luxury. Since consumers respect brands and expect them to be more responsible, CSR measures and campaigns with a strong cause have become requisites in today’s marketing landscape. Pixar understands this well.
Hence as a part of promoting the Inside Out 2 movie, they organized a “Movie Party in a Box” at various children’s hospitals. This was a measure to take movies to children who cannot visit theaters to witness the movie. Various members of the team behind the movie visited hospitals in different locations to interact with the children and families there.
With this strategy, they managed to create many beautiful moments for their young fans. Drawing inspiration from this idea, identify the most relevant cause marketing strategy that actually resonates with your audience. After all, standing for a cause is a strong way to boost brand credibility and build meaningful customer connections.
11. Seasonal campaigns
Take it from Pixar about preserving your brand identity even when focusing on seasonal themes. In the 8 months post-release of the teaser, leading up to the movie release date, how did Pixar sustain the momentum around the film? Through consistent posting and preservation of the Inside Out 2 brand identity.
They achieved this by creating posts featuring the popular characters of the movie and incorporating the movie theme in their seasonal posts as well.
For example, the post here features a signature mother-daughter conversation between Riley and her mom to celebrate Mother’s Day.
Similarly, try seamlessly infusing your brand messaging into your seasonal campaigns. That’s one way to tap into the seasonal buzz while also keeping your brand messaging alive.
12. Make the most of emotions in marketing
Emotional marketing is vital for fostering strong customer relationships. Hence Pixar finds a way to subtly integrate emotions into their campaigns for all their movies. Moreover, emotions are the core theme of the Inside Out 2 movie. In view of this, they created posts with beautiful stories and strong themes to evoke an emotional response.
For instance, here is a post that captures the beauty of friendship while also communicating the brand’s core message.
Gather your friends to watch #InsideOut2 in theaters this Friday! Get 🎟️ now: https://t.co/PIG2nAIaKK pic.twitter.com/sKZTiuFlyw
— Pixar (@Pixar) June 9, 2024
13. Targeting niche audiences
Niche marketing works wonders for small businesses and big ones alike. In particular, it helps brands narrow down their approach and target smaller and more engaged audience niches thus improving conversions. In fact, this also helps you gauge the audience’s emotions better.
For this purpose, Pixar also launched a few campaigns focusing on specific niche audiences. Their short video featured in the Super Bowl game targeted Super Bowl fans.
Similarly, their collaboration with NBA stars Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony in The Inside Out 2 crossover ads was crafted to appeal to NBA fans.
And finally, Pixar screened the first 35 minutes of the movie at CinemaCon. This was to attract the attention of diverse niche audiences in the Motion Picture Theater industry including movie buffs and film critics.
Similarly, well-organized niche marketing campaigns can help boost your marketing impact.
The Many Joyful Brand Partnerships For Inside Out 2 & Lessons From Them
In addition to their campaigns and social media posts as discussed above, there were also several brand partnerships that were part of the Inside Out 2 movie marketing. Let’s look at a few of them to understand the strategy that worked for the brands involved.
LEGO mood cubes
LEGO, in partnership with Inside Out 2, launched Inside Out 2 Mood Cubes. This resonates with the brand’s tradition of introducing movie-themed brick sets. The idea imbibes a flavor of the movie in the picture while also retaining the brand’s core product.
In the same way, introducing limited-edition merchandise combining the visual identity of both brands involved is a great idea for brand partnership campaigns.
Airbnb Inside Out 2 themed stay
How would you like to stay at Riley’s crew’s Headquarters? If you like the idea then Airbnb has good news. Partnering with Inside Out 2, they introduced a Headquarters-themed stay for fans to feel a stronger connection to their favorite movie.
Taking a page from this partnership, aim to create a memorable experiential campaign when partnering with brands. Experiences are easier to remember and more impactful than traditional promotional ads.
Samsung’s Bespoke AI Laundry Combo meets Inside Out 2
Samsung jumped on the bandwagon partnering with Inside Out 2 to promote their Bespoke AI Laundry Combo feature. They seamlessly incorporated the characters and theme of the Inside Out movies.to demonstrate the feature in the spotlight.
This shows how brand partnerships can be valuable opportunities for companies to build traction for a new product or feature.
Duolingo’s character drops
The key to successful brand partnership campaigns is to preserve the unique personalities and visual identities of both brands involved. With the Duolingo brand, their unique quirky personality is something that sets them apart. In particular, their assortment of mascots has had a special place in most of their campaigns. Therefore, for their partnership with Inside Out 2, they released a set of new characters that combine their mascot, Duo and the emotions from Inside Out 2.
The designs are spectacular and they exemplify the benefits of having a well-recognized easily adaptable mascot.
new character drop ‼️‼️ pic.twitter.com/uLC3rQ5Tcr
— Duolingo (@duolingo) June 25, 2024
Bubble Skincare Inside Out 2 product bundles
Like introducing new limited-edition products as a part of a brand partnership, introducing product bundles is another great idea. This lets you put together some bestsellers and possibly some new products or those that need a boost. You only need a new packaging design to go with the bundle and combining the brand identities of the partnering brands becomes easier with this approach.
TikTok-famous Bubble Skincare chose this approach and introduced Inside Out 2 themed product bundles. From warm positive messages to illustrations of the popular Inside Out characters, the packaging design for these product bundles effectively highlights both brands.
Execute Your Inside Out 2 Inspired Campaign Designs With KIMP
In all these campaign ideas and marketing strategies, visuals play a crucial role. In the form of static images and motion graphics, they help bring your ideas to life. Therefore, a dependable dedicated design team that works with you in creating your marketing designs is just what you need to experiment with new ideas and explore new strategies. And that’s something you can get a flat fee with a KIMP subscription.
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